Monday, July 27, 2015

We discovered balance bikes when Sophia was getting ready to learn to ride bikes. I think that they are the most wonderful way to teach kids to ride. Instead of teaching them to pedal first and then balance as train wheels do, a balance bike teaches kids to balance first and then learn to pedal. The kids that use them seem to learn to ride much earlier than those that learn with training wheels.
We found out too late about the balance bike to use it to teach Keira to ride her bike. She is also a worrier, so she is more scared of falling than some kids. Adrian found some tutorials and youtube videos on how to convert a regular bike to a balance bike and made Keira a balance bike!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

I am not sure what I was hoping to get out of taking pictures of words all month, but I feel like this project is much harder than I thought! How do you make words or letters appear more interesting? How do you capture them from a surprising or different angle? Well, I am not sure! I am trying though.

Sunday: I came to the end of the day an realized that I hadn't gotten out the camera. I didn't want to miss a day, so I took a picture of the United States map that we have hanging on our family room wall.

Monday: Keira and I went out to get her glasses fixed, and on our way, Keira spotted a cemetery. She asked if we could stop and take pictures, so on our way back home, we stopped and looked around for a few minutes. It turns out that the cemetery was more interesting than I expected!

Tuesday: I am always amused by warning labels on playground equipment! I guess it is a necessity in our litigious society.

Wednesday: This is one of my backpacks from college. (I still like some good Punk rock! :)

Thursday: With the end of the school year, the kids earned more treats than normal.

Friday: Another day of treats for finishing well.

Saturday: A picture of pictures! This is above a white board in our kitchen to help us remember prayer requests.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Thursday a week ago, Mom and Megan with her kids met at our house for our first "long" park day. We headed to Rolater Park in Cave Spring, Ga. It is almost 2 hours from our house, but boasted a cave and a creek. As we drove up, we saw a natural swimming pool! Megan and I oogled over the pool! It turns out that the natural spring feeds a large pond and a canal that leads to the pool. Before the spring fills the pond, it has a small grated area for people to fill there water jugs to get as much natural spring water as they like. We talked to a lady who said she and her husband drove 2 hours to this spring once a month to fill their jugs!

We arrived at the park just at lunch time. The kids got out and played on the playground while Megan prepared lunch and I fed the baby. After lunch, a friend from church joined us! We walked around the pond a bit and the kids fed the fish (with food purchased at the cave store for $.50 a bag).

Then we went into the cave ($1.00 per person over age 4). The temperature in the cave was quite a bit cooler than the outside air, and it felt wonderful on such a hot day!

The entrance to the cave

Just before entering the cave (and this was the best shot I got!)

The kids had a great time looking around the cave, though they were worried about the mud (what kids don't like mud?!).

Once the kids had thoroughly explored the cave (as best as they could without flashlights), we went outside to let the kids play in the canal between the pond and the swimming pool. Now remember, the spring comes up from the cave. It is quite cool and refreshing to drink, but to play in?! It was very cold! The kids splashed and played (taking no notice of the cold) until we needed to change clothes to head home.

Just before leaving, everyone filled their water bottles from the spring. The kids (and especially Avalyn) thought it was the best water they had ever had!

Friday, July 17, 2015

Ever since reading Treasure Island, Avalyn has been enamoured by pirates. So when she found the top among other costumes at the thrift store, she begged me to get it. We happened to find the black pants that day as well. She is one happy pirate!

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

I enjoy quilting. I don't really enjoy other kinds of sewing. In fact, I find many other kinds of sewing stressful! But quilting, that I like. My philosophy follows along these lines of the book, How Not to Make an Prize-Winning Quilt, though. My grandmother gave me this book a couple of years ago, and it belonged to her mother! Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be about me!
Avalyn wanted to learn to sew. I decided to get a book for her to work through as I wanted to have some structure to what she was going to be doing. Learning to Sew: Kids My First Sewing Machine Book looked like a good choice. It provides information on sewing machines and gives a little quiz on the parts of the sewing machine. Then it has exercises for learning to sew straight lines and curved lines on paper! I never thought of that idea! Avalyn doesn't need to use fabric or even thread to practice! She is still working on the paper exercises, but is learning how to use my sewing machine.

Monday, July 13, 2015

After seeing Megan's word pictures last week, I must admit, I was a bit envious! She did a great job! I hope I did better this week, but I feel like I am stuck in the box and don't know how to get out. I'll just keep trying, though.

I missed Sunday, but meant to take a picture of my Bible. I made up for it on Monday.

In an attempt to take a quick picture of words for Monday, I took a picture of a note Adrian wrote on one of our white boards.

Tuesday: I took Keira to her hippotherapy. This was on one of the trucks that hauls the horse trailers.

I missed Wednesday, so this was taken on Tuesday. Adrian and I had a take out dinner date. He ordered Yu Shiong Chicken. We got a kick out of how the restaurant abbreviated it!

Thursday: We went to Cave Spring, GA. I'll post more about that trip in a park hopping post.